Celestial Navigation Honor Class

Celestial Navigation in the Computer Age

(GPS and Manual Sights: A Comparison of Similarities) Why Study Celestial Navigation? BY: What is / are the benefit(s)? Vistar, Oscar III M.

C/M ALMIRANTE R.TIU

INSTRUCTOR

DATE SUBMITTED: February 22, 2012

INTRODUCTION
Tremendous developments in navigational systems are of great help and are just beneficial innovations to ease the improvement of maritime industry. Modern methods of finding position spend more on satellite services where they can only now just pay for it. The way technology changes the navigation is on its way becoming better, but does this really now taking over the name of the old navigation? Would it far outweigh the use of sextant, accurate timepiece, nautical almanac, and so with our little mathematical skill beyond addition and subtraction being combined? This are actually the questions that the researcher wants to find out after an extensive research on the comparison of the modern and old navigation. Specifically, the paper will relate on the comparison of the similarities of GPS and the use of manual sight in the field of Navigation.

BODY
GPS versus Manual Sights (A comparison of similarities on concept) How does GPS work? The rudimentary principle behind GPS works with triangulation. GPS measures distances between satellites in orbit and a receiver on or above the earth and computes spheres of position from those distances. Thus, the intersections of those spheres of position determine the receivers position. On the other hand, manual sights used in celestial navigation are achieved using sextant, an accurate timepiece, a nautical almanac and modern sight reduction table. Unnoticeably, taking sights still follow the concept of triangulation but instead of artificial satellites, we use fixed stars and the calculation of their geographic positions on Earth to obtain our positions. Henceforth, what really is the concept of triangulation? How does it relate the old manual sights of LOPs and the Global Positioning System? Triangulation Explained The distance measurements in GPS are done by comparing timing signals generated simultaneously by the satellites and receivers internal clocks. These signals, characterized by a special wave form known as the pseudorandom code, are generated in phase with each other. The signal from the satellite arrives at the receiver following a time delay proportional to its distance traveled. This time delay is detected by the phase shift between the received pseudo-random code and the code generated by the receiver. Knowing the time required for the signal to reach the receiver from the satellite allows the receiver to calculate the distance from the satellite. The receiver, therefore, must be located on a sphere centered at the satellite with a radius equal to this distance measurement. The intersection of three spheres of position yields two possible points of receiver position. One of these points can be disregarded since it is hundreds of miles from the surface of the earth. Theoretically, then, only three time measurements are required to obtain a fix from GPS. Each satellite knows its position and its distance from the center of the earth. Each satellite constantly broadcasts this information. With this information the receiver tries to calculate its position. Just knowing the distance to one satellite doesnt provide enough information.

Finding Location with GPS

Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites orbit high above the surface of Earth at precise locations. They allow a user with a GPS receiver to determine latitude, longitude, and altitude. The receiver measures the time it takes for signals sent from the different satellites (A, B, and C) to reach the receiver. From this data, the receiver triangulates an exact position. At any given time there are multiple satellites within the range of any location on Earth. Three satellites are needed to determine latitude and longitude, while a fourth satellite (D) is necessary to determine altitude.

In practice, however, a fourth measurement is required to obtain an accurate position from GPS. This is due to receiver clock error. Timing signals travel from the satellite to the receiver at the speed of light; even extremely slight timing errors between the clocks on the satellite and in the receiver will lead to tremendous range errors. The satellites atomic clock is accurate to 10-9 seconds; installing a clock that accurate on a receiver would make the receiver prohibitively expensive. Therefore, receiver clock accuracy is sacrificed, and an additional satellite timing measurement is made.

Triangulation and Visual Fix The fix error caused by the inaccuracies in the receiver clock is reduced by simultaneously subtracting a constant timing error from four satellite timing measurements until a pinpoint fix is reached. This process is analogous to the navigators plotting of a visual fix when bearing transmission error is present in his bearing repeater system. With that bearing error present, two visual LOPs will not intersect at a vessels true position; there will be an error introduced due to the fixed, constant error in the bearing transmission process. There are two ways to overcome such an error. The navigator can buy extremely accurate (and expensive) bearing transmission and display equipment, or he can simply take a bearing to a third visual navigation aid. The resulting fix will not plot as a pinpoint (as it would were there no transmission error present); rather, it will plot as a triangle. The navigator can then apply a constant bearing correction to each LOP until the correction applied equals the bearing transmission error. When the correction applied equals the original transmission error, the resultant fix should plot as a pinpoint.

The situation with GPS receiver timing inaccuracies is analogous; time measurement error simply replaces bearing measurement error in the analysis. Assuming that the satellite clocks are perfectly synchronized and the receiver clocks error is constant, the subtraction of that constant error from the resulting distance determinations will reduce the fix error until a pinpoint position is obtained. It is important to note here that the number of lines of position required to employ this technique is a function of the number of lines of position required to obtain a fix. In the two dimensional visual plotting scenario described above, only two LOPs were required to constitute a fix. The bearing error introduced another unknown into the process, resulting in three total unknowns (the x coordinate of position, the y coordinate of position, and the bearing error). Because of the three unknowns, three LOPs were required to employ this correction technique. GPS determines position in three dimensions; the presence of receiver clock error adds an additional unknown. Therefore, four timing measurements are required to solve for the resulting four unknowns.

Celestial Navigation: Weighing out the Benefits Since bodies like sun, moon, and stars are universal, they can be used universally by all persons on the Earth at appropriate times. Using manual sights used for navigation, no fee is collected for a celestial sight and there can be no permission for its use is necessary. A study of celestial navigation may begin with a fundamental consideration of the geometry of the Earth and the celestial sphere, the coordinate systems, and the angles used. So, our mathematical skills will be applied as not just to rely on something thats calculating for us. Yet, it is not much of an exaggeration to say that todays navigation is virtually synonymous with GPS. This is a development of the present decade, which has seen the completion of the GPS satellite constellation, the shutdown of other electronic means of navigation, and a drastic reduction in the prices of GPS receivers. In fact, an annual technical meeting of the Institute of Navigation in San Diego wherein almost all of the papers presented there were about current and future applications of the Global Positioning System (GPS). Still, the stellar reference frame is an alternative to GPS that could be used to align inertial navigation systems. After all, the stars define the most fundamental and accurate celestial system available. Furthermore, combining celestial and inertial navigation is not a new idea. Of course, on or near the Earth's surface, a fundamental obstacle to celestial observations is cloud cover: a run of bad weather can separate star sights by a day or more. But an inertial navigation system provides an excellent bad-weather "flywheel" that can carry the stellar fix forward until new observations can be obtained. Celestial navigation is practiced on a daily basis on all vessels. Standard practice relies on quartermasters skilled in the use of hand-held marine sextants and paper-and-pencil sight reduction techniques. The basic method has not changed much in a hundred years, although almanacs and other sight-reduction tools have become more convenient to use. Observations are limited to a few Sun sights during the day and a few star sights during twilight. Because observations with hand-held sextants have typical uncertainties of about one arc minute, celestial fixes are rarely more accurate than several nautical miles. This kind of celestial navigation may be good for "sanity checks" on GPS fixes, and may be useful in an emergency, but its accuracy and availability fall short of many current military requirements.

If celestial navigation is to assume a broader role in the modern Maritimes high-tech environment, its limitations will have to be addressed: low accuracy (a few miles), limited time window for observations (horizon must be visible), and low data rate. The sparse amount of celestial data collected over the course of a day results from the use of a human (with other duties) as a detector and computer, the small number of target objects (usually just the Sun and bright stars), and restrictions on the sky are turns out that all of these limitations are a consequence of the way in which celestial navigation is now carried out, rather than being fundamental to the technique. They are a result of the human-intensive observing and computing procedure we use, and in that sense are self-imposed. However, if we are willing to think a bit more broadly about how celestial navigation could be performed, we find that these problems have technical solutions. In fact, as we shall see, most of the needed solutions are available "off the shelf." Significant improvement to celestial navigation's accuracy and availability will require changes in both the observational hardware and the computational procedure used to obtain a fix.

CONCLUSION
When navigation methods are combined, the objective is to use the strengths of one technique to compensate for the weaknesses of another in a way that results in significantly higher accuracy and reliability. This concludes why the similarities of the old navigation and GPS-generation navigation was likely being discussed. At the same time each of these methods are relevant and could be a good help for each other if one doesnt function accordingly. As for Maritime field, we rely increasingly on GPS, so it is important that this dependence does not become a single-point-failure risk for navigation operations. Independent alternatives to GPS are needed and are required by official policy and thus we still need the old navigation system of sights. Imaginative application of available technology can ensure that celestial navigation has as much of a role to play in the future as it has in the past in helping to provide safe passage for maritime industry worldwide.

REFERENCES
G. H. Kaplan, "Determining the Position and Motion of a Vessel from Celestial Observations," Navigation, Journal of the Institute of Navigation, 42 (Winter 1995), 631-648. S. Feldman, P. K. Seidelmann, and G. G. Barton, "Advances in Celestial Navigation," Naval Engineers Journal (August 1974), 65-76. C. DeWit, "Optimal Estimation of a Multi-Star Fix," Navigation, Journal of the Institute of Navigation, 24 (Spring 1997), 67-71.